<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<link rel="STYLESHEET" href="lib.css" type='text/css' />
<link rel="SHORTCUT ICON" href="../icons/pyfav.png" type="image/png" />
<link rel='start' href='../index.html' title='Python documentation Index' />
<link rel="first" href="lib.html" title='Python library Reference' />
<link rel='contents' href='contents.html' title="Contents" />
<link rel='index' href='genindex.html' title='Index' />
<link rel='last' href='about.html' title='About this document...' />
<link rel='help' href='about.html' title='About this document...' />
<link rel="prev" href="module-netrc.html" />
<link rel="parent" href="fileformats.html" />
<link rel="next" href="xdr-packer-objects.html" />
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
<meta name='aesop' content='information' />
<title>9.5 xdrlib -- Encode and decode XDR data</title>
</head>
<body>
<div class="navigation">
<div id='top-navigation-panel' xml:id='top-navigation-panel'>
<table align="center" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2">
<tr>
<td class='online-navigation'><a rel="prev" title="9.4.1 netrc Objects"
  href="netrc-objects.html"><img src='../icons/previous.png'
  border='0' height='32'  alt='Previous Page' width='32' /></a></td>
<td class='online-navigation'><a rel="parent" title="9. file Formats"
  href="fileformats.html"><img src='../icons/up.png'
  border='0' height='32'  alt='Up one Level' width='32' /></a></td>
<td class='online-navigation'><a rel="next" title="9.5.1 packer Objects"
  href="xdr-packer-objects.html"><img src='../icons/next.png'
  border='0' height='32'  alt='Next Page' width='32' /></a></td>
<td align="center" width="100%">Python Library Reference</td>
<td class='online-navigation'><a rel="contents" title="Table of Contents"
  href="contents.html"><img src='../icons/contents.png'
  border='0' height='32'  alt='Contents' width='32' /></a></td>
<td class='online-navigation'><a href="modindex.html" title="Module Index"><img src='../icons/modules.png'
  border='0' height='32'  alt='Module Index' width='32' /></a></td>
<td class='online-navigation'><a rel="index" title="Index"
  href="genindex.html"><img src='../icons/index.png'
  border='0' height='32'  alt='Index' width='32' /></a></td>
</tr></table>
<div class='online-navigation'>
<b class="navlabel">Previous:</b>
<a class="sectref" rel="prev" href="netrc-objects.html">9.4.1 netrc Objects</a>
<b class="navlabel">Up:</b>
<a class="sectref" rel="parent" href="fileformats.html">9. File Formats</a>
<b class="navlabel">Next:</b>
<a class="sectref" rel="next" href="xdr-packer-objects.html">9.5.1 Packer Objects</a>
</div>
<hr /></div>
</div>
<!--End of Navigation Panel-->

<h1><a name="SECTION0011500000000000000000">
9.5 <tt class="module">xdrlib</tt> --
         Encode and decode XDR data</a>
</h1>

<p>
<a name="module-xdrlib"></a>

<p>
<a id='l2h-2098' xml:id='l2h-2098'></a>

<p>
The <tt class="module">xdrlib</tt> module supports the External Data Representation
Standard as described in <a class="rfc" id='rfcref-100380' xml:id='rfcref-100380'
href="http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1014.html">RFC 1014</a>, written by Sun Microsystems,
Inc. June 1987.  It supports most of the data types described in the
RFC.

<p>
The <tt class="module">xdrlib</tt> module defines two classes, one for packing
variables into XDR representation, and another for unpacking from XDR
representation.  There are also two exception classes.

<p>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
  <td><nobr><b><span class="typelabel">class</span>&nbsp;<tt id='l2h-2096' xml:id='l2h-2096' class="class">Packer</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
  <td><var></var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
<tt class="class">Packer</tt> is the class for packing data into XDR representation.
The <tt class="class">Packer</tt> class is instantiated with no arguments.
</dl>

<p>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
  <td><nobr><b><span class="typelabel">class</span>&nbsp;<tt id='l2h-2097' xml:id='l2h-2097' class="class">Unpacker</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
  <td><var>data</var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
<code>Unpacker</code> is the complementary class which unpacks XDR data
values from a string buffer.  The input buffer is given as
<var>data</var>.
</dl>

<p>
<div class="seealso">
  <p class="heading">See Also:</p>

  <dl compact="compact" class="seerfc">
    <dt><a href="http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1014.html"
        title="XDR: external Data representation Standard"
        >RFC 1014, <em>XDR: External Data Representation Standard</em></a>
    <dd>This RFC
                defined the encoding of data which was XDR at the time
                this module was originally written.  It has
                apparently been obsoleted by <a class="rfc" id='rfcref-100376' xml:id='rfcref-100376'
href="http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1832.html">RFC 1832</a>.
  </dl>

<p>
<dl compact="compact" class="seerfc">
    <dt><a href="http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1832.html"
        title="XDR: external Data representation Standard"
        >RFC 1832, <em>XDR: External Data Representation Standard</em></a>
    <dd>Newer RFC
                that provides a revised definition of XDR.
  </dl>
</div>

<p>

<p><br /></p><hr class='online-navigation' />
<div class='online-navigation'>
<!--Table of Child-Links-->
<a name="CHILD_LINKS"><strong>Subsections</strong></a>

<ul class="ChildLinks">
<li><a href="xdr-packer-objects.html">9.5.1 Packer Objects</a>
<li><a href="xdr-unpacker-objects.html">9.5.2 Unpacker Objects</a>
<li><a href="xdr-exceptions.html">9.5.3 Exceptions</a>
</ul>
<!--End of Table of Child-Links-->
</div>

<div class="navigation">
<div class='online-navigation'>
<p></p><hr />
<table align="center" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2">
<tr>
<td class='online-navigation'><a rel="prev" title="9.4.1 netrc Objects"
  href="netrc-objects.html"><img src='../icons/previous.png'
  border='0' height='32'  alt='Previous Page' width='32' /></a></td>
<td class='online-navigation'><a rel="parent" title="9. file Formats"
  href="fileformats.html"><img src='../icons/up.png'
  border='0' height='32'  alt='Up one Level' width='32' /></a></td>
<td class='online-navigation'><a rel="next" title="9.5.1 packer Objects"
  href="xdr-packer-objects.html"><img src='../icons/next.png'
  border='0' height='32'  alt='Next Page' width='32' /></a></td>
<td align="center" width="100%">Python Library Reference</td>
<td class='online-navigation'><a rel="contents" title="Table of Contents"
  href="contents.html"><img src='../icons/contents.png'
  border='0' height='32'  alt='Contents' width='32' /></a></td>
<td class='online-navigation'><a href="modindex.html" title="Module Index"><img src='../icons/modules.png'
  border='0' height='32'  alt='Module Index' width='32' /></a></td>
<td class='online-navigation'><a rel="index" title="Index"
  href="genindex.html"><img src='../icons/index.png'
  border='0' height='32'  alt='Index' width='32' /></a></td>
</tr></table>
<div class='online-navigation'>
<b class="navlabel">Previous:</b>
<a class="sectref" rel="prev" href="netrc-objects.html">9.4.1 netrc Objects</a>
<b class="navlabel">Up:</b>
<a class="sectref" rel="parent" href="fileformats.html">9. File Formats</a>
<b class="navlabel">Next:</b>
<a class="sectref" rel="next" href="xdr-packer-objects.html">9.5.1 Packer Objects</a>
</div>
</div>
<hr />
<span class="release-info">Release 2.5.1, documentation updated on 18th April, 2007.</span>
</div>
<!--End of Navigation Panel-->
<address>
See <i><a href="about.html">About this document...</a></i> for information on suggesting changes.
</address>
</body>
</html>
